The six men's and six women's members of Liberty's triathlon club who competed in Sunday's Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Triathlon Championships pray before the start of the race.

The Olympic-distance race featured a 1500-meter swim in Centennial Lake followed by a 25-kilometer cycling stage and 10K run around the scenic and rolling Centennial Park.

Anderson finished less than three minutes out of first place in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 37 seconds. Josiah Slaydon, Liberty's second-fastest finisher, placed 22nd overall in 2:19:08

"We did OK, we didn't do great," Liberty head coach Beth Frackleton said, noting the Flames' second-fastest triathlete made a wrong turn in the cycling stage and didn't finish and their fourth-best competitor was sick and couldn't compete. "The men's team's a little disappointed. Not having two guys in the scoring really hurt us."

Final team results were not yet available, but Frackleton estimated the Flames placed in the top 10 of approximately 20 schools competing.

Marymount's Collin Chartier was the overall winner in 2:03:42. The second- and third-place finishers were the Naval Academy's David MacFarlane and Chris Brahm, who had placed third and fourth, respectively, behind Anderson, at the Sept. 21 Liberty University Collegiate Triathlon.

Frackleton was most impressed with Mullaly's performance, which placed her seventh in 2:31:35.

"Katie had a good, solid race," Frackleton said. "She looked strong coming out of the water and came across the finish line feeling really good."

She was glad all six of the Lady Flames completed the Olympic-distance course, a few for the first time.

"It was good to see the other women finish and finish well," Frackleton said. "They have a long away to go, but any time you do something for the first time … I was proud of them."

She is excited about the prospects of adding a few experienced women to make the team stronger for the future.

"I'm getting a couple of good recruits for next year," Frackleton said. "The girls team can potentially be extremely competitive, for the first time ever. The men's team has always been stronger."

Liberty will begin training later this month for the USA Triathlon National Collegiate Championships, April 12-13 in Tempe, Ariz.

"We'll take a couple weeks off and then we'll start back up again," Frackleton said.

"I don't know who and I'm not sure how many I'm going to take to nationals yet."

Though the Flames won't be competing in any official collegiate races before then, they may participate in an indoor event around spring break as a tune-up for nationals.